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Been a long time lurker looking at engine swap projects into the old Ford crew cabs. Hopefully I can get started on my project in about 18 months when we move back to the states!

My plan is to buy a complete 7.3 Powerstroke from 99-03 with 6sp transmission and 4x4. We will be moving into a new house and building a detached garage so it will be something that runs well enough to use for hauling materials and pulling trailers. In the meantime I've been searching for an old Ford crew cab to start my conversion. From my searching it appears most (possibly all?) Ford crew cabs '67-72 were short beds. My question is what are the wheelbases for those years? I plan to use the Powerstroke frame/engine/trans/tcase/axles with the body parts from the OFCC so I'd like to know what wheelbase to look for when buying the Powerstroke so I don't have to cut and adjust the frame length. Is a '67-72 crew cab short bed 4x4 going to have the same wheelbase as say a '99 crew cab short bed 4x4?

I suppose I should mention what I really want which is a 67-72 crew cab long bed 4x4 on 99-03 frame and running gear. So I've been searching for an old crew cab and a long bed to go with it, just not sure what wheelbase Powerstroke to buy so that the old cab and bed fit the newer frame.

looks like 67-72 crew shortbox has 149" wheelbase73-79 crew shortbox has 150" wheelbase05-12 crew shortbox has 156" wheelbaseTrack widths are about the sameOutside/outside fenders are about the same around 80"

I would like to do the same swap using an 05+ truck - unless I find an older crew already done right.

Probably should start a new thread but for now I will continue this one.

Got to thinking about my plan to swap cabs on frames and not sure how to handle the VIN numbers. I've widened my search to include 73-79 crews, and have read that the VIN on these cabs are on a door sticker rather than the firewall. In the likely event I end up swapping our rusty doors on a crew for more solid F150 doors, won't that effectively change my VIN? For trucks with the VIN on the firewall, what happens when the firewall is changed like here?

I've been told of a few 99 powerstroke trucks in junk yards (rollovers with good engine/frame/etc), so not sure what sort of title I'd get with them and there would be a VIN stamped on the frame somewhere. If I did get a title I wouldn't think I could register a 70's body style pickup on 99 frame as a 99 truck/vin. So the 70s crew cab title will likely be what I register the truck under but no VIN tags to show for it?

The truck will eventually be titled and registered in Pennsylvania or Maryland.

I have done body swaps a lot with the 73-79 style and I use the vin with the body I plan on using. In your case, if you put a 73-79 body on a 90's frame and running gear, I would stick with a vin off the old dentside body. Keep the normal title for the truck. I wouldn't bother trying to get a reconstructed title. Thats probably just gonna be a paperwork disaster and could possibly affect insurance coverage. Dent sides have the vin on a metal tag on the drivers door and a sticker on the drivers door jam. I have seen tags on the firewalls and i usually just remove them if I change vins. Nobody from the state looks for them and they probably dont care either.

texasranger wrote: If I did get a title I wouldn't think I could register a 70's body style pickup on 99 frame as a 99 truck/vin.

I wouldn't reccomend registering an old truck with a 99 vin. If you would get pulled over for a moving violation and they run your info, any cop with common sense is gonna look at the year on the paper and look at the truck and know something isnt adding up.

And as far as chosing between Pennsylvania and Maryland, pick Pennsylvania. We need a few more crews around here. (And we arent an anti-gun state, either! )

PACrewCab wrote:Dent sides have the vin on a metal tag on the drivers door and a sticker on the drivers door jam. I have seen tags on the firewalls and i usually just remove them if I change vins. Nobody from the state looks for them and they probably dont care either.

Using the running gear from a modern F350 would allow me to tow a good bit more than I'd consider safe in an old bump side or dent side. What determines how much you can legally tow? I remember my dad used to down rate his 3/4 ton trucks for registration to save on fees, but not sure if you can register a truck to tow more than the OEM recommends (if Ford even had a recommendation in the 70s)?

PACrewCab wrote:And as far as chosing between Pennsylvania and Maryland, pick Pennsylvania. We need a few more crews around here. (And we arent an anti-gun state, either! )

Grew up in western PA and majority of my family still live there. The registration and insurance prices in Baltimore are a good bit more expensive but eventually Maryland is where it will be registered unless something changes in the next few years.